@LushLillies, I noticed you also have national writing awards. My younger son applied to WUSTL with stats similar to yours, a 99% SAT and SAT2 (scores ranged from 760-800). His GPA was also similar to yours, and just out of the top 10%. He had a number of national writing awards and applied for WUSTL’s writing merit award, but not its half/full merit because he thought his GPA wasn’t high enough for those scholarships. He was accepted and a finalist for the writing award. WUSTL accepts the merit ppl early and flies them out for the scholarship weekend for interviews. He declined bc he also applied to tufts ED2 and was accepted the same day that he heard from WUSTL. (He had been weighing converting his Tufts application to RD because, about 3 weeks before, he also was accepted to the University of Southern California (USC) as a full merit finalist, and then seriously weighed each of his options as if he had already been accepted to all, and realized he wanted Tufts above all others, so he kept his application ED2.)
You are allowed to apply for multiple scholarships at WUSTL, and should. Must definitely apply for the writing scholarship, although it’s a minuscule amount of funding, but it does demonstrate interest and it will allow you to catch the eye of the woman who runs the creative writing program, which may help with admissions. She was very kind to my son. After he declined the offer, she wrote a nice email wishing him luck at tufts but also saying he’d always have a place at WUSTL if things didn’t work out.
I’d also suggest you apply to USC if you’re looking for big merit money. It doesn’t require another application, as it does at WUSTL. You just need to apply by an earlier deadline, which in my son’s year was either end of November or Dec 1. Can’t remember, exactly.
Honestly, we were shocked he got nominated for these awards bc we thought his GPA (an A- in a rigorous schedule) would tank him. But his 2260 SAT, 3 SAT2s (760-800), plus national awards, and a good app apparently won over the admissions ppl. My oldest son, who had slighter higher SATs and slightly higher GPA, plus research at Rockefeller University, applied for the science merit at WUSTL, and didn’t get it. His only merit awards came from UPitt and URochester, but he was also accepted to uchicago, UPenn, and brown, and attended the latter. So kids who get into Ivies may not win a WUSTL merit award. It’s that competitive. He also applied to the Emory merit award (his college counselor at his private high school nominated him, which is required), and he didn’t get an interview for that, either. But good news is that he ended up at his top choice (he had applied to brown ED and was deferred). Admissions and merit scholarships are tough at this level. I have a feeling that my younger son got the merit nominations at WUSTL and USC because besides his high standardized testing, he presented as someone the schools were looking for: a male intending to major in English. He filled a niche.
Finally, if you’re interested in Penn, reach out to the woman who recruits creative writers for their Kelly House writing program. She was recruiting my younger son, and we even got a private tour of Penn and Kelly House. Penn, like all Ivies, doesn’t offer merit money, but unlike any school I’m aware of, they actively recruit creative writing students who have won national awards. They recruit them for admission just as Penn recruits athletes. It’s a great program but unfortunately, my son didn’t like the school as much as he liked WUSTL, tufts and brown, which were his top 3 choices in the end. With your stats, I think you’d have a shot there.
